now, this is a quote that i took right out of don hickey's book about the myths. there's many other examples but i like this one in particular because this is a british quote, and i'll read it to you, or in part. "francis james jackson, former british minister of the united states, wrote in the spring of 1811 that his successor, augustus jay foster, would act as a sort of political conduct tore attract the lightning that may issue from the clouds round the capitol and the white house at washington." so here's a british statement written in 1811, clearly talking about the white house. so i think we can now put to bed pretty much this myth that the white house was called the white house in 1814 because the british burned it. and then the final myth, because i'm running out of time, did the great storm put out the fires? and i have no illustrations of the great storm. surprise, surprise. but down below are some examples of some tornadoes that have hit the city of washington. one in 1927 and one in 1973. the first thing we have to make clear to everybody is that many

i wanted to acknowledge there's already been a book that's been done by don hickey. you heard from don this morning. he was the first speaker. he did an excellent job. he's done a whole book on the myths of the war of 1812. this is the cover page for it. in it, he has a quote and i will read it. the war of 1812 is a conflict that carries an unduly heavy burden of mythology. much of it propagated by 19th century historians and arriving mainly from national chauvinism. i would like to add to that, many scholars, writers, historians, teachers, professors were continuing to propagate a lot of that. we are never going to be able to get rid of these myths and misunderstandings of history. it's just a part of the fabric of history today. it behooves us to try to know what are the kernels of truth. that's why i enjoyed holly's paper. she helped us understand the myths and misunderstandings behind dolley madison. the first question, did the british really burn washington? i'm going to start out in a peculiar way. i am showing you the actual logo and title of this very symposiu

i wanted to acknowledge there's already been a book that's been done by don hickey. heard from don this morning. he was the first speaker. he did an excellent job. he's done a whole book on the myths of the war of 1812. this is the cover page for it. in it, he has a quote and i will read it. the war of 1812 is a conflict that carries an unduly heavy burden of mythology. much of it propagated by 19th century historians and arriving from chauvinism. i would like to add to that, many scholars, writers, historia historians, teachers, professors were continuing to propagate that. we are never going to be able to get rid of these

we welcome professor don hickey. [applause] >> thanks for that introduction. about thed to talk politics of the war of 1812. you should have a handout in your folder with a little thatne and a few books will provide additional information if you would like to read a little bit more on this. presentation an act of inconceivable folly and desperation. american politics and the war of 1812. this is part of a quote from the massachusetts house of representatives in a report adopted a little more than a week after the declaration of war. it called the declaration of war act of inconceivable folly and desperation that was hostile to your interests, menacing to your liberties, and revolting to your feelings. this was indicative of the deep opposition of the war by the opposition party, the federalist party, which controlled the house of representatives in massachusetts. want to talkis, i about the origins of american political parties. the first two-party system emerged in the early 1790's and it was really in spite of, rather than because of, anybody's wishes. ameri

taylor asked don hickey to discuss some of the personalities.could you comment on dewitt clinton and daniel tompkins who were both governor of new york state. and also the landing of money by tompkins to fund new york state's role in the war of 1812, which when he died, he was very -- he was broke. and tompkins went on to serve as monroe's vice president for eight years. could you comment on the role of dewitt clinton and daniel tompkins. >> i probably couldn't say more than what you have. certainly not an area of expertise for me. but what i would say is that the -- at this time there is sort of a movement towards secession that has been going on in new england. and i think the -- the burning of washington is one of the things that pulls the rug out from that movement because there is quite a bit of outrage that spreads, including up to new england and to new york over the burning of washington. i don't know if anybody else has something to add about it, but -- >> are there any other personalities you want to discuss that had a role in the war

taylor asked don hickey to discuss some of the personalities. could you comment on dewitt clinton and daniel tompkins who were both governor of new york state. and also the landing of money by tompkins to fund new york state's role in the war of 1812, which when he died, he was very -- he was broke. and tompkins went on to serve as monroe's vice president for eight years. could you comment on the role of dewitt clinton and daniel tompkins. >> i probably couldn't say more than what you have. certainly not an area of expertise for me. but what i would say is that the -- at this time there is sort of a movement towards secession that has been going on in new england. and i think the -- the burning of washington is one of the things that pulls the rug out from that movement because there is quite a bit of outrage that spreads, including up to new england and to new york over the burning of washington. i don't know if anybody else has something to add about it, but -- >> are there any other personalities you want to discuss that had a role in the war

i wanted to acknowledge there's already been a book that's been done by don hickey. you heard from don this morning. he was the first speaker. he did an excellent job. he's done a whole book on the myths of the war of 1812. this is the cover page for it. in it, he has a quote and i will read it. the war of 1812 is a conflict that carries an unduly heavy burden of mythology. much of it propagated by 19th century historians and arriving mainly from national chauvinism. i would like to add to that, many scholars, writers, historians, teachers, professors were continuing to propagate a lot of that. we are never going to be able to get rid of these myths and misunderstandings of history. it's just a part of the fabric of history today. it behooves us to try to know what are the kernels of truth. that's why i enjoyed holly's paper. she helped us understand the myths and misunderstandings behind dolley madison. the first question, did the british really burn washington? i'm going to start out in a peculiar way. i am showing you the actual logo and title of this very symposiu

feel manifest destiny shows that if the americans captured canada they would have kept inby but don hickeythe top war of 1812 historian believes that they would only have kept it as a bargaining table to get concessions from the british. so that's a matter of debate. >> but i think it was madison's intent to get bargaining chip, so to speak, but there were many others like henry clay, theqnk hawk from kentucky who certainly was interested in keeping that territory.gÊy one of those things that they assumed would be a quick conqueror of canadian territory and that didn't happen. so the whole point became moot. >> wonderful thing about the war of 1812 the americans didn't win it. one could argue they lost it. they declared it and didn't win it. they discovered that america should look west and that the northern stuff and atlantic ocean fighting these 600 british ships and stuff was nonsense. the great opportunity laid to the west. the great joy of 1812 it made america doing what it hug l.i.e. succeeded in doing in building prosperity and wonderment by looking west and buying the louisiana pu

feel manifest destiny shows that if the americans captured canada they would have kept inby but don hickeyves that they would only have kept it as a bargaining table to get concessions from the british. so that's a matter of debate. >> but i think it was madison's intent to get bargaining chip, so to speak, but there were many others like henry clay, theqnk hawk from kentucky who certainly was interested in keeping that territory.gÊy one of those things that they assumed would be a quick conqueror of canadian territory and that didn't happen. so the whole point became moot. >> wonderful thing about the war of 1812 the americans didn't win it. one could argue they lost it. they declared it and didn't win it. they discovered that america should look west and that the northern stuff and atlantic ocean fighting these 600 british ships and stuff was nonsense. the great opportunity laid to the west. the great joy of 1812 it made america doing what it hug l.i.e. succeeded in doing in building prosperity and wonderment by looking west and buying the louisiana purchase. >> that began with the loui

feel manifest destiny shows that if the americans captured canada they would have kept inby but don hickeyieves that they would only have kept it as a bargaining table to get concessions from the british. so that's a matter of debate. >> but i think it was madison's intent to get bargaining chip, so to speak, but there were many others like henry clay, theqnk hawk from kentucky who certainly was interested in keeping that territory.gÊy one of those things that they assumed would be a quick conqueror of canadian territory and that didn't happen. so the whole point became moot. >> wonderful thing about the war of 1812 the americans didn't win it. one could argue they lost it. they declared it and didn't win it. they discovered that america should look west and that the northern stuff and atlantic ocean fighting these 600 british ships and stuff was nonsense. the great opportunity laid to the west. the great joy of 1812 it made america doing what it hug l.i.e. succeeded in doing in building prosperity and wonderment by looking west and buying the louisiana purchase. >> that began with the lo

i wanted to acknowledge there's already been a book that's been done by don hickey. you heard from don this morning. he was the first speaker. he did an excellent job. he's done a whole book on the myths of the war of 1812. this is the cover page for it. in it, he has a quote and i will read it. the war of 1812 is a conflict that carries an unduly heavy burden of mythology. much of it propagated by 19th century historians and arriving from chauvinism. i would like to add to that, many scholars, writers, historia historians, teachers, professors were continuing to propagate that. we are never going to be able to get rid of these myths and misunderstandings of history. it's a part of fabric. it behooves us to try to know what are the colonels of truth. that's why i enjoyed holly's paper. she helped us understand the myths behind dolley madison. the first question, did the british really burn washington? i'm going to start out in a peculiar way. i am showing you the actual logo and title of this very symposium. i'll just read it to you. america under fire. mr. madison's